A List of Rubbish You Say That Makes You Sound Unprofessional

There are several phrases and words that successful and career-minded people say every day, on the other hand, there are also some phrases and words that unprofessional, and apparently unsuccessful people tend to speak out. At times, they aren’t even attentive to the fact that they are doing so. A lot of these phrases have become common social norms, making it hard to break the routine of using them in daily conversation. Sadly, they are causing more harm than good.

When it comes to hiring new employees, employers only want the best of the best people working for them. As an employee, you act as a representative of the company. How you appear is just as significant as the quality of work you deliver. If you sound unprofessional it reflects poorly on you and on your brand, as well as your company. Consecutively this will adversely affect your repute.

To ensure you aren’t letting such unprofessional comments slip while you are in your workplace, below is a complete list of amateurish words and phrases that you use unknowingly. These unprofessional statements are rather common, and range from trivial to whiny, to categorically rude. Regardless of the tone you use to convey them, or the context in which they are spoken, all of these must be avoided. Given that, coming across as an amateur and unprofessional person is a clear-cut “no-no” in office, it is best to keep away from using any of the below 50 phrases.

“What will it take for you to ___?” (“…buy this phone today”, “…to get you to hire us”, etc.)

“It’s possibly not that good.”

“You’re really really smart!” (Sucking up is unprofessional.)

“It isn’t fair!”

“That’s how it is, period!”

“It is none of your business.”

“Before you say anything, let me just say this… “

“That is not my work”

“You Suck.”

“We have big plans!”

“They won’t notice.”

“I can’t forgive and forget.”

“That is nothing.”

“Let’s follow them to get along.”

“That’s really tough.”

“I already know it.”

“You should read into things.”

“I would have done it better.”

“I am not impressed.”

“That’s a very stupid idea.”

“It will be OK.”

“You won’t understand.”

“Don’t forget your place.”

“Could be, I am not sure “

“I am not afraid.”

“That’s my top secret.”

“I don’t understand why they are asking me… “

“Why?” (Rather than “Why not?”)

“We’ll cross that bridge when it comes”

You don’t want to be seen wearing an improper outfit in your workplace, or slacking off, or doing a lousy job. Why? For the simple reason that doing these things make you appear unprofessional. This is equally true for every word you speak in your workplace, as much as it is for your behavior. Your boss judges you by both. It’s best to keep away from saying given phrases that make you appear anything below the professional you want to be seen as.

Kanika is an ardent writer and a serial blogger in addition to being the founder of yourmotivationguru.com where she writes about growing the happiness ratio of life. She is also a technologist, bibliophile, speaker, educator and writer.